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American Morning
Beware of Bargains; '90-Second Pop'
Aired October 06, 2004 - 09:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back here in Cleveland. Back here in Ohio.
Good morning, everyone. Just about 9:30 here in northern Ohio. The debate is over for the vice presidential candidates, two men going at it last night. We know what the spinners said all day. But what do the voters think? And what do they say? We'll talk about what we learned last night, again, from our focus group in Columbus, Ohio, 24 mostly undecided voters, registering their opinions as the candidates spoke last night for 90 minutes for each word and each second. We'll get back to that.
First back to New York again with Heidi with more from there -- Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Bill. Also today, we're going to be talking about Howard Stern and whether or not he's thrown in the towel. The shock jock saying he will leave commercial radio, but that doesn't necessarily mean his shows will go away. We're going to talk about that coming up in just a few minutes.
But firs, now in the news this morning, a suicide car bombing in western Iraq has killed at least 12 Iraqi National Guard members. Two dozen others are wounded. Meanwhile, the final report from weapons inspectors is set to be released in the Senate. Sources say it suggests Saddam Hussein didn't have weapons of mass destruction at the time of the U.S. invasion, but was looking to revive his WMD programs.
Congress, considering implementing some of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. The Senate is expected to vote today on its intelligence reform bill. The House is still debating its version of the draft. Sources say the estimated price tag for the proposals is about $15 billion.
A quick look at the campaign trail now. President Bush heading to Pennsylvania for what's being called a significant speech on the economy and the war on terror. The president left the White House just a short time ago. He's set to speak in about a half an hour. Senator Kerry spending the day in Colorado. He is prepping for debate No. 2. As you know, that's coming up on Friday.
And three new Nobel laureates this morning. An American and two Israelis won the 2004 Nobel Prize in chemistry. They're being honored for work on how the body chooses to break down certain proteins. The trio will share a $1.3 million prize. And not too shabby there.
(WEATHER REPORT) COLLINS: Want to move on to "Consumers Reports." They say you should beware of bargains. They say safety regulations are ignored, and dangerous toys and other products end up on store shelves, particularly in bargain stores. Their findings is called "Hazard in Aisle Five," in the November issue of "Consumer Reports." So this morning, we have Kim Kleman, she's the managing editor of the magazine, to tell us more about this.
Good morning to you. Thanks for being here. This is kind of scary stuff. How is it that these products that are not safe anymore end up on the store shelves?
KIM KLEMAN, MANAGING EDITOR, "CONSUMER REPORTS": You have several things going on. First, you have more and more products being made abroad, and in some cases, oversight is nonexistent. You have too few U.S. officials at our ports looking at cargo for unsafe products. And you have consumer demand for rock-bottom prices. That is an incentive for some manufacturers to skimp on safety.
COLLINS: All right. Well, I know you brought quite a few products with you. Let's go ahead and start looking at some of these. What are we dealing with here?
KLEMAN: One of the things we found in our investigation is electrical products that are counterfeit. They have fake certification labels.
COLLINS: That's terrible.
KLEMAN: Fake underwriters lab labels.
What you need to watch out for as a consumer, you need to make sure there's a label on the cord and also on the label.
COLLINS: OK.
KLEMAN: If there's no label on the cord, don't buy it.
COLLINS: OK, wow. I mean, this may not be a question for you, but it just makes me think, how do we find out who manufactured that, who did that, and then prosecute them? I mean, does that come up? Are they caught?
KLEMAN: Underwriters and other organizations are taking the initiative here, they're really trying to scour the marketplace for things like this. They seize these products and then they destroy them.
COLLINS: OK, what about some other things here?
KLEMAN: We found a lot of toys that had no labels or insufficient labels, and a real problem is with something like these marbles.
COLLINS: Beads.
KLEMAN: Yes, beads, marbles.
COLLINS: They're small. You're going to swallow those if you're little, right?.
KLEMAN: There's no label on them at all. We found them in an educational toy store, so you would think that they're safe. But a little child, someone three or under, could eat it. They look like gumballs.
COLLINS: They definitely look like gumballs.
KLEMAN: And could choke. So that's a huge problem. Something like this, we found nail polish. If you drop these glass bottles, they break, could really Hurt a kid. But the parts are also too small for a young child.
COLLINS: Right, so what do you do as a parent? You go into the store, you really have no idea that, you know, these products are not safe. So what are some tips that we can look forward to here?
KLEMAN: For toys and other products, you should avoid no-name labels, because you can't get back to the manufacturer if, in fact, there's a problem.
You can do your own safety tests if you're a parent. Use a toilet paper roll, of all things. You can put the toy, or parts of the toy, in there, if they fit. Don't give it to a child under 3.
COLLINS: Too small.
OK, what about checking the warning label here?
KLEMAN: You have to check warning labels. If there's no warning label. If it's written in ungrammatical English, or if there are conflicting warning labels, just stay away from the product; it's probably unsafe.
COLLINS: And then you talk about deep discounts really cheap, stuff that's really cheap, not -- it's too good to be true.
KLEMAN: Exactly. One of the ways they get the prices down is to scrimp on safety, so stay away from products like that.
COLLINS: OK, and informal retailers, what are those?
KLEMAN: Flea market vendors, street vendors. Again, you have a problem. If there's a problem with the product, they might not be there for you to go back to.
COLLINS: OK, and you guys also have a Web site that you can click on to learn more about this?
KLEMAN: Rightm, www.consumerreports.org.
COLLINS: All right, thank you so much for being here. Kim Kleman, we appreciate your time this morning. Information that every parent should know, for sure.
KLEMAN: Thanks for having me.
COLLINS: Thank you.
Moving on now to the health world. A new noninvasive surgical procedure is proving to be an effective alternative for treating brain tumors.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us once again from the CNN Center for more details on this, and the perfect guy to talk to us about this topic -- Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi. This is my area of expertise, as you know, but we spent the morning with one cancer patient, who, for her, surgery was not an option for a brain tumor, and the radiation may have affected too much of her healthy brain. So she was with one other option, and here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Anne Brown is back at work, just two days after having treatment for a deadly brain tumor.
ANNE BROWN, CANCER PATIENT: Of course I was scared to death, you know, because you don't know what to expect.
GUPTA: She is one of the first patients in the world to be given highly targeted radiation therapy, guided with three-dimensional treatments. Radiation normally takes six-to-eight weeks. For Anne, it took 45 minutes. Eight years ago, Anne was diagnosed with lung cancer. A few weeks ago, she found out that it spread to her brain. Doctors considered surgery at first, but found it just wasn't possible.
DR. NELSON OVESIKU (ph), EMORY UNIV. HOSPITAL: One of the lesions was essentially unapproachable without significant risk by surgery. We found two spots in the brain.
GUPTA: So the doctors recommend radiation, but the problem was, even the radiation would affects too much of the healthy brain. So doctors agreed upon a new type of radiation treatment.
DR. IAN CROCKER, WINSHIP (ph) CANCER INST.: Radio surgery is when we give a large dose of radiation in a single treatment, in general to a small tumor with a hopes that permanently eradicating it with that single treatment.
GUPTA: And with the help of a new robotically controlled imaging system, doctors are able to pinpoint the exact location of the tumor better than ever before. A higher dose of radiation can be given to the tumor, leaving the rest of the brain untouched, leading to a better chance for a cure, without as many side effects. After a day of rest, Anne is back at work, and hoping to get back to normal.
BROWN: They're telling me, you know, this is not a death sentence, you know, we're going to take care of you, you're going to be back up and running in no time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: In about a month's time, she'll have to get another brain scan to see if that tumor is either much smaller or gone altogether. But again, just 45 minutes for her entire treatment there -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Great to see her laughing, too.
But, Sanjay, is this as effective as actual brain surgery?
GUPTA: Well, not everyone is going to be a candidate for this sort of thing, first of all. Patients who have very large tumors won't be a candidate, or patients who have tumors that are causing significant problems. They're going to need to have the tumors removed right away surgically.
But in patients with small tumors, such as the case was there, they may be a good candidate for this, and eventually the tumor should be gone, should disappear, so it should eventually be as effective as brain surgery. With an operation, the tumor's gone immediately. Wit this, it may take several months before the tumor disappears altogether -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, great news for those folks. Thanks so much, Sanjay Gupta.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COLLINS: Back now to Cleveland, Ohio and Bill once again -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thanks. In a moment here, remembering the life of Rodney Dangerfield. What a life it was, too. The respect he has now, and forever. Back in a moment here, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: It is 90 second pop for a Wednesday. Meet the players today. Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine.
Sarah, good morning.
SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
COLLINS: B.J. Sigesmund, staff editor for "US Weekly."
B.J., hello.
B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Hello.
COLLINS: And Crystal McCrary Anthony, author of "The Gotham Diaries." Good morning to all of you.
We've got to talk about some sad news this morning. B.J., starting with you, Rodney Dangerfield, 82 years old...
SIGESMUND: Right.
COLLINS: ... dead this morning.
SIGESMUND: Right.
COLLINS: He went into a coma. He was in a coma for quite some time and never recovered and is now gone. But, you know, he is the guy that is just famous for so many great one-liners.
SIGESMUND: Yes. Well, you know, a generation of guys came of age with Rodney Dangerfield. My generation. You know, "Caddy Shack," "Easy Money," "Back to School." We're going to hear some of his one- liners, I think, right now.
COLLINS: Yes, this is a stand-up routine. This is probably his most famous line, I think.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RODNEY DANGERFIELD, ACTOR: He wants to have sex in the back seat of the car. I drove her and that guy around all night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIGESMUND: But the thing he was most successful...
COLLINS: That wasn't it.
SIGESMUND: No. He was most successful, of course, for his "I get no respect."
COLLINS: Right.
SIGESMUND: Now, a lot of people don't know he actually didn't have that line until well into his career when he saw "The Godfather"...
COLLINS: Oh.
SIGESMUND: ... and, you know, respect was a big part of that movie with the Don.
COLLINS: Yes.
SIGESMUND: And he said, I kind of get no respect. Let me try that out in a routine. And it just caught on. And that became his signature line throughout the whole rest of his career, the biggest part of his career in the '70s and '80s.
BERNARD: And he always had the whole 'I'm a loser" kind of persona going. And that is something he picked up early on.
COLLINS: That's right. People identified with him.
CRYSTAL MCCRARY ANTHONY, AUTHOR, "THE GOTHAM DIARIES": My grandfather totally loved Rodney Dangerfield, and that was the every man component of him that I think most people across the country identified with. . SIGESMUND: Do you know what his name was, though? His real name was Jacob Cohen. Now, who would change their name from Jacob Cohen to Rodney Dangerfield?
BERNARD: There are a lot of Jacob Cohens out there.
COLLINS: I don't know which is better. Let's listen for a minute to one of his most popular movies. Everybody loves "Caddy Shack." Let's listen to see what he said on there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANGERFIELD: Hey, I'll buy out the joint. Mike, stop me, will you? Oh, this is the worst looking hat I ever saw. Well, you buy a hat like this, I bet you'll get a free bowl of soup, huh? Oh, it looks good on you, though.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIGESMUND: Poor Ted Knight.
BERNARD: Yes, I know.
SIGESMUND: They -- oh, I remember they hated each other actually making that movie, Ted Knight and Rodney Dangerfield.
COLLINS: Oh.
BERNARD: It looked like they hated each other.
COLLINS: Well, obviously Rodney Dangerfield is very much missed by not only by other comedians but his audience as well.
Crystal, let's move on. Sony and Michael Jackson are expected not to talk...
ANTHONY: Right.
COLLINS: ... but not really in a good regard. They've going to be...
ANTHONY: They're going to...
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: ... yes, dissolving a partnership for owning the rights to these Beatles songs. What's up with this? ANTHONY: Right. I know. These publishing rights to the Beatles songs, I mean, are very possibly Michael Jackson's, you know, most valuable asset. I mean, he's potentially -- you know, it's rumored that he could get up to 500 million for these rights. I mean, to me what it mounts up to are, you know, financial troubles that it's been speculated he has been having for some time.
I mean, with the cost of mounting legal fees, you know, a potential out-of-court settlement for, you know, the civil case once the criminal aspect of this child molestation case moves forward. And, I mean, also, the cost of running Neverland. I mean, that's extravagant in itself.
BERNARD: Well, he's also taken a loan against them.
ANTHONY: Right.
BERNARD: I think he's actually -- if he sells them, he's going to have to pay back the 200 million.
ANTHONY: Right, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), yes.
BERNARD: But there is something so strange about an artist owning another artist's songs. I mean, I know that it happens all the time that you sort of sell the rights to someone else. But there was always something kind of strange, don't you think, about owning...
ANTHONY: I think that the relationship that he had with Paul McCartney that, you know, it gave it sort of a weird feeling. I know Paul McCartney didn't necessarily appreciate that Michael Jackson...
BERNARD: No.
ANTHONY: ... because I think they bid against one another for that.
SIGESMUND: Right.
ANTHONY: And there's the friendship there that I think was an issue. But, I mean, business is business it turns out to be. You know, he may walk away with 300 million after paying back the 200 million in loans.
SIGESMUND: Right.
COLLINS: And Beatles fans are probably kind of divided about that, too...
ANTHONY: Sure.
COLLINS: ... because either they love that he's carrying on the songs or they think you can't sing those songs. No one can do them like the Beatles.
SIGESMUND: Right. You know...
ANTHONY: Right.
SIGESMUND: I was going to say, Sony is releasing yet another Michael Jackson greatest hits compilation next month.
COLLINS: Oh.
SIGESMUND: They are still making as much money out of Michael Jackson as they can.
COLLINS: Sure. Yes.
ANTHONY: Sure.
COLLINS: All right. Well, to the three of you this morning, thank you so much for your time as always. Sarah Bernard, B.J. Sigesmund and Crystal McCrary Anthony, thanks again, guys.
ANTHONY: Thank you.
COLLINS: And back now to Bill once again in Cleveland, Ohio -- Bill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: All right, Heidi. Heidi, thanks for that. One more Rodney Dangerfield, "I'm a water sign. My girlfriend's an earth sign. Together we make mud," Rodney Dangerfield.
This thing continues here in Cleveland, wrapping up out debate coverage in a moment. Back to our focus group in a second here.
Also, Howard Stern announces a major move. Andy has that, after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A major announcement by Howard Stern this morning. He signed a deal with satellite radio. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business" on that. Some people psyched to be able to hear him.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, kind of an anticipated move, but a very interesting one, nonetheless. We'll get to that in a second.
Let's check the market first, kind of dancing around a little bit. We're just down about six points here. You can see. Again, the price of oil, Heidi, holding the markets back. And you wonder what would happen if the price of oil did drop to $40, as the head of OPEC suggested would happen within six months. You could really see an incredible rally.
What stocks are moving? Well, it has to do with Howard Stern this morning. He is jumping ship and taking his act to Sirius Satellite Radio. That stock is up 56 cents, to $3.92, a 17 percent move. Boy, we all should have bought that stock yesterday. Viacom, where he used to work, or he worked, or he still will work there until the next year, is down 55 cents. Howard talked to his listeners this morning about the move.
Let's hear what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD STERN: I hope the audience stays with me, and I want to thank my sponsors, too, who've enabled me...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you to all the people who kept convincing (ph), stay on, you know, keep fighting.
STERN: Especially my sponsors who stood fast while the Religious Right continues to attack us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERWER: Well, that's part of the while thing. And of course he won't have to worry about any sponsors on Sirius Satellite Radio, Heidi, because that is a pay-per-listen satellite network. It's got 600,000 subscribers. They say they're going to need a million to pay -- a million more to pay for his contract.
COLLINS: Maybe they get to the Playboy Club folks, too.
SERWER: Yes, that's right, they could do that.
Just one last thing I want to say about Sirius, which is interesting, is that, you know, this could be one of those transformational events. You remember when CNN and the Gulf War, and that really sort of took them to the next level. When Fox got football, that sort of put them on the map. So we'll have to see. And it's competition is XM Radio, and they've got some new people, too, like Bob Edwards; they just signed the other day, and "Opie and Anthony," which is an interesting store.
This is kind of PG-13-rated segment, or maybe an R-rated thing. And the Playboy Club is back, I want to just quickly mention that. They closed down in '86, and opening up a new one in Las Vegas after an 18-year hiatus, and that's good news for certain segments of the population, wouldn't you think?
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Yes, some people will like that, Heidi; some people won't.
COLLINS: That's right.
SERWER: There you go.
COLLINS: All right, Andy, thanks so much for that. Back now to Bill in Cleveland once again this morning -- Bill.
HEMMER: Yes, Heidi, how about a final word from the voters, huh? The focus group we sat down with last night in realtime now, their reaction to the debate. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER (voice over): Twelve men, 12 women, 24 mostly undecided voters, watching the debate from the campus of Ohio State University. They were armed with hand-held touch pads to register their reactions, 1 being the lowest negative score, 10 the highest positive. Men in blue, women in yellow.
The candidates came out sparring, both getting higher positives from women throughout the debate. When Edwards attacked the Bush administration's record on jobs, he scored big with our voters.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: During the time that the vice president and the president have been in office, four million more Americans have fallen into poverty.
HEMMER: When Vice President Cheney turned to gay marriage, his daughter being gay, he also raised the bar.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whether or not government should sanction or approve or give some sort of authorization, if you will, to these relationships.
HEMMER: Senator Edwards lost points when he tried to accuse the vice president of drawing a link between Saddam Hussein and September 11.
J. EDWARDS: The vice president keeps suggesting that there is. There is not.
HEMMER: When Mr. Cheney got personal, his rating took a dip as well.
D. CHENEY: Almost 70 percent of the meetings of the Intelligence Committee. You've missed a lot of key votes.
HEMMER: And when it was over, just like any good focus group, some liked what they heard, some did not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They talked a lot about the war, but I would have liked to hear more about how and when we're pulling the troops out and not how we got there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard far more definitive answers than I heard from the previous debate between our presidential candidates. I still heard too much he said/she said/you said accusations, but there were some definitive answers to specific questions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: And now the focus goes back to the top of the ticket. Friday night in St. Louis, they'll line up again. Our primetime coverage at 7:00 Eastern. That debates begins at 9:00. We'll see you again there on Friday night.
Break here. Back in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: For Andy Serwer and me here in New York in the studio of AMERICAN MORNING, thanks so much for watching. That's it for us.
Bill, back to you now.
HEMMER: You got it. OK, Heidi, Andy, we'll see you soon in New York, OK?
SERWER: All right.
HEMMER: To Daryn Kagan now at the CNN Center. The next hour is "CNN LIVE TODAY."
And, Daryn, take it way.
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Aired October 6, 2004 - 09:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back here in Cleveland. Back here in Ohio.
Good morning, everyone. Just about 9:30 here in northern Ohio. The debate is over for the vice presidential candidates, two men going at it last night. We know what the spinners said all day. But what do the voters think? And what do they say? We'll talk about what we learned last night, again, from our focus group in Columbus, Ohio, 24 mostly undecided voters, registering their opinions as the candidates spoke last night for 90 minutes for each word and each second. We'll get back to that.
First back to New York again with Heidi with more from there -- Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Bill. Also today, we're going to be talking about Howard Stern and whether or not he's thrown in the towel. The shock jock saying he will leave commercial radio, but that doesn't necessarily mean his shows will go away. We're going to talk about that coming up in just a few minutes.
But firs, now in the news this morning, a suicide car bombing in western Iraq has killed at least 12 Iraqi National Guard members. Two dozen others are wounded. Meanwhile, the final report from weapons inspectors is set to be released in the Senate. Sources say it suggests Saddam Hussein didn't have weapons of mass destruction at the time of the U.S. invasion, but was looking to revive his WMD programs.
Congress, considering implementing some of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. The Senate is expected to vote today on its intelligence reform bill. The House is still debating its version of the draft. Sources say the estimated price tag for the proposals is about $15 billion.
A quick look at the campaign trail now. President Bush heading to Pennsylvania for what's being called a significant speech on the economy and the war on terror. The president left the White House just a short time ago. He's set to speak in about a half an hour. Senator Kerry spending the day in Colorado. He is prepping for debate No. 2. As you know, that's coming up on Friday.
And three new Nobel laureates this morning. An American and two Israelis won the 2004 Nobel Prize in chemistry. They're being honored for work on how the body chooses to break down certain proteins. The trio will share a $1.3 million prize. And not too shabby there.
(WEATHER REPORT) COLLINS: Want to move on to "Consumers Reports." They say you should beware of bargains. They say safety regulations are ignored, and dangerous toys and other products end up on store shelves, particularly in bargain stores. Their findings is called "Hazard in Aisle Five," in the November issue of "Consumer Reports." So this morning, we have Kim Kleman, she's the managing editor of the magazine, to tell us more about this.
Good morning to you. Thanks for being here. This is kind of scary stuff. How is it that these products that are not safe anymore end up on the store shelves?
KIM KLEMAN, MANAGING EDITOR, "CONSUMER REPORTS": You have several things going on. First, you have more and more products being made abroad, and in some cases, oversight is nonexistent. You have too few U.S. officials at our ports looking at cargo for unsafe products. And you have consumer demand for rock-bottom prices. That is an incentive for some manufacturers to skimp on safety.
COLLINS: All right. Well, I know you brought quite a few products with you. Let's go ahead and start looking at some of these. What are we dealing with here?
KLEMAN: One of the things we found in our investigation is electrical products that are counterfeit. They have fake certification labels.
COLLINS: That's terrible.
KLEMAN: Fake underwriters lab labels.
What you need to watch out for as a consumer, you need to make sure there's a label on the cord and also on the label.
COLLINS: OK.
KLEMAN: If there's no label on the cord, don't buy it.
COLLINS: OK, wow. I mean, this may not be a question for you, but it just makes me think, how do we find out who manufactured that, who did that, and then prosecute them? I mean, does that come up? Are they caught?
KLEMAN: Underwriters and other organizations are taking the initiative here, they're really trying to scour the marketplace for things like this. They seize these products and then they destroy them.
COLLINS: OK, what about some other things here?
KLEMAN: We found a lot of toys that had no labels or insufficient labels, and a real problem is with something like these marbles.
COLLINS: Beads.
KLEMAN: Yes, beads, marbles.
COLLINS: They're small. You're going to swallow those if you're little, right?.
KLEMAN: There's no label on them at all. We found them in an educational toy store, so you would think that they're safe. But a little child, someone three or under, could eat it. They look like gumballs.
COLLINS: They definitely look like gumballs.
KLEMAN: And could choke. So that's a huge problem. Something like this, we found nail polish. If you drop these glass bottles, they break, could really Hurt a kid. But the parts are also too small for a young child.
COLLINS: Right, so what do you do as a parent? You go into the store, you really have no idea that, you know, these products are not safe. So what are some tips that we can look forward to here?
KLEMAN: For toys and other products, you should avoid no-name labels, because you can't get back to the manufacturer if, in fact, there's a problem.
You can do your own safety tests if you're a parent. Use a toilet paper roll, of all things. You can put the toy, or parts of the toy, in there, if they fit. Don't give it to a child under 3.
COLLINS: Too small.
OK, what about checking the warning label here?
KLEMAN: You have to check warning labels. If there's no warning label. If it's written in ungrammatical English, or if there are conflicting warning labels, just stay away from the product; it's probably unsafe.
COLLINS: And then you talk about deep discounts really cheap, stuff that's really cheap, not -- it's too good to be true.
KLEMAN: Exactly. One of the ways they get the prices down is to scrimp on safety, so stay away from products like that.
COLLINS: OK, and informal retailers, what are those?
KLEMAN: Flea market vendors, street vendors. Again, you have a problem. If there's a problem with the product, they might not be there for you to go back to.
COLLINS: OK, and you guys also have a Web site that you can click on to learn more about this?
KLEMAN: Rightm, www.consumerreports.org.
COLLINS: All right, thank you so much for being here. Kim Kleman, we appreciate your time this morning. Information that every parent should know, for sure.
KLEMAN: Thanks for having me.
COLLINS: Thank you.
Moving on now to the health world. A new noninvasive surgical procedure is proving to be an effective alternative for treating brain tumors.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us once again from the CNN Center for more details on this, and the perfect guy to talk to us about this topic -- Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi. This is my area of expertise, as you know, but we spent the morning with one cancer patient, who, for her, surgery was not an option for a brain tumor, and the radiation may have affected too much of her healthy brain. So she was with one other option, and here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Anne Brown is back at work, just two days after having treatment for a deadly brain tumor.
ANNE BROWN, CANCER PATIENT: Of course I was scared to death, you know, because you don't know what to expect.
GUPTA: She is one of the first patients in the world to be given highly targeted radiation therapy, guided with three-dimensional treatments. Radiation normally takes six-to-eight weeks. For Anne, it took 45 minutes. Eight years ago, Anne was diagnosed with lung cancer. A few weeks ago, she found out that it spread to her brain. Doctors considered surgery at first, but found it just wasn't possible.
DR. NELSON OVESIKU (ph), EMORY UNIV. HOSPITAL: One of the lesions was essentially unapproachable without significant risk by surgery. We found two spots in the brain.
GUPTA: So the doctors recommend radiation, but the problem was, even the radiation would affects too much of the healthy brain. So doctors agreed upon a new type of radiation treatment.
DR. IAN CROCKER, WINSHIP (ph) CANCER INST.: Radio surgery is when we give a large dose of radiation in a single treatment, in general to a small tumor with a hopes that permanently eradicating it with that single treatment.
GUPTA: And with the help of a new robotically controlled imaging system, doctors are able to pinpoint the exact location of the tumor better than ever before. A higher dose of radiation can be given to the tumor, leaving the rest of the brain untouched, leading to a better chance for a cure, without as many side effects. After a day of rest, Anne is back at work, and hoping to get back to normal.
BROWN: They're telling me, you know, this is not a death sentence, you know, we're going to take care of you, you're going to be back up and running in no time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: In about a month's time, she'll have to get another brain scan to see if that tumor is either much smaller or gone altogether. But again, just 45 minutes for her entire treatment there -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Great to see her laughing, too.
But, Sanjay, is this as effective as actual brain surgery?
GUPTA: Well, not everyone is going to be a candidate for this sort of thing, first of all. Patients who have very large tumors won't be a candidate, or patients who have tumors that are causing significant problems. They're going to need to have the tumors removed right away surgically.
But in patients with small tumors, such as the case was there, they may be a good candidate for this, and eventually the tumor should be gone, should disappear, so it should eventually be as effective as brain surgery. With an operation, the tumor's gone immediately. Wit this, it may take several months before the tumor disappears altogether -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, great news for those folks. Thanks so much, Sanjay Gupta.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COLLINS: Back now to Cleveland, Ohio and Bill once again -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thanks. In a moment here, remembering the life of Rodney Dangerfield. What a life it was, too. The respect he has now, and forever. Back in a moment here, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: It is 90 second pop for a Wednesday. Meet the players today. Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine.
Sarah, good morning.
SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
COLLINS: B.J. Sigesmund, staff editor for "US Weekly."
B.J., hello.
B.J. SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Hello.
COLLINS: And Crystal McCrary Anthony, author of "The Gotham Diaries." Good morning to all of you.
We've got to talk about some sad news this morning. B.J., starting with you, Rodney Dangerfield, 82 years old...
SIGESMUND: Right.
COLLINS: ... dead this morning.
SIGESMUND: Right.
COLLINS: He went into a coma. He was in a coma for quite some time and never recovered and is now gone. But, you know, he is the guy that is just famous for so many great one-liners.
SIGESMUND: Yes. Well, you know, a generation of guys came of age with Rodney Dangerfield. My generation. You know, "Caddy Shack," "Easy Money," "Back to School." We're going to hear some of his one- liners, I think, right now.
COLLINS: Yes, this is a stand-up routine. This is probably his most famous line, I think.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RODNEY DANGERFIELD, ACTOR: He wants to have sex in the back seat of the car. I drove her and that guy around all night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIGESMUND: But the thing he was most successful...
COLLINS: That wasn't it.
SIGESMUND: No. He was most successful, of course, for his "I get no respect."
COLLINS: Right.
SIGESMUND: Now, a lot of people don't know he actually didn't have that line until well into his career when he saw "The Godfather"...
COLLINS: Oh.
SIGESMUND: ... and, you know, respect was a big part of that movie with the Don.
COLLINS: Yes.
SIGESMUND: And he said, I kind of get no respect. Let me try that out in a routine. And it just caught on. And that became his signature line throughout the whole rest of his career, the biggest part of his career in the '70s and '80s.
BERNARD: And he always had the whole 'I'm a loser" kind of persona going. And that is something he picked up early on.
COLLINS: That's right. People identified with him.
CRYSTAL MCCRARY ANTHONY, AUTHOR, "THE GOTHAM DIARIES": My grandfather totally loved Rodney Dangerfield, and that was the every man component of him that I think most people across the country identified with. . SIGESMUND: Do you know what his name was, though? His real name was Jacob Cohen. Now, who would change their name from Jacob Cohen to Rodney Dangerfield?
BERNARD: There are a lot of Jacob Cohens out there.
COLLINS: I don't know which is better. Let's listen for a minute to one of his most popular movies. Everybody loves "Caddy Shack." Let's listen to see what he said on there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANGERFIELD: Hey, I'll buy out the joint. Mike, stop me, will you? Oh, this is the worst looking hat I ever saw. Well, you buy a hat like this, I bet you'll get a free bowl of soup, huh? Oh, it looks good on you, though.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIGESMUND: Poor Ted Knight.
BERNARD: Yes, I know.
SIGESMUND: They -- oh, I remember they hated each other actually making that movie, Ted Knight and Rodney Dangerfield.
COLLINS: Oh.
BERNARD: It looked like they hated each other.
COLLINS: Well, obviously Rodney Dangerfield is very much missed by not only by other comedians but his audience as well.
Crystal, let's move on. Sony and Michael Jackson are expected not to talk...
ANTHONY: Right.
COLLINS: ... but not really in a good regard. They've going to be...
ANTHONY: They're going to...
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: ... yes, dissolving a partnership for owning the rights to these Beatles songs. What's up with this? ANTHONY: Right. I know. These publishing rights to the Beatles songs, I mean, are very possibly Michael Jackson's, you know, most valuable asset. I mean, he's potentially -- you know, it's rumored that he could get up to 500 million for these rights. I mean, to me what it mounts up to are, you know, financial troubles that it's been speculated he has been having for some time.
I mean, with the cost of mounting legal fees, you know, a potential out-of-court settlement for, you know, the civil case once the criminal aspect of this child molestation case moves forward. And, I mean, also, the cost of running Neverland. I mean, that's extravagant in itself.
BERNARD: Well, he's also taken a loan against them.
ANTHONY: Right.
BERNARD: I think he's actually -- if he sells them, he's going to have to pay back the 200 million.
ANTHONY: Right, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), yes.
BERNARD: But there is something so strange about an artist owning another artist's songs. I mean, I know that it happens all the time that you sort of sell the rights to someone else. But there was always something kind of strange, don't you think, about owning...
ANTHONY: I think that the relationship that he had with Paul McCartney that, you know, it gave it sort of a weird feeling. I know Paul McCartney didn't necessarily appreciate that Michael Jackson...
BERNARD: No.
ANTHONY: ... because I think they bid against one another for that.
SIGESMUND: Right.
ANTHONY: And there's the friendship there that I think was an issue. But, I mean, business is business it turns out to be. You know, he may walk away with 300 million after paying back the 200 million in loans.
SIGESMUND: Right.
COLLINS: And Beatles fans are probably kind of divided about that, too...
ANTHONY: Sure.
COLLINS: ... because either they love that he's carrying on the songs or they think you can't sing those songs. No one can do them like the Beatles.
SIGESMUND: Right. You know...
ANTHONY: Right.
SIGESMUND: I was going to say, Sony is releasing yet another Michael Jackson greatest hits compilation next month.
COLLINS: Oh.
SIGESMUND: They are still making as much money out of Michael Jackson as they can.
COLLINS: Sure. Yes.
ANTHONY: Sure.
COLLINS: All right. Well, to the three of you this morning, thank you so much for your time as always. Sarah Bernard, B.J. Sigesmund and Crystal McCrary Anthony, thanks again, guys.
ANTHONY: Thank you.
COLLINS: And back now to Bill once again in Cleveland, Ohio -- Bill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: All right, Heidi. Heidi, thanks for that. One more Rodney Dangerfield, "I'm a water sign. My girlfriend's an earth sign. Together we make mud," Rodney Dangerfield.
This thing continues here in Cleveland, wrapping up out debate coverage in a moment. Back to our focus group in a second here.
Also, Howard Stern announces a major move. Andy has that, after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A major announcement by Howard Stern this morning. He signed a deal with satellite radio. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business" on that. Some people psyched to be able to hear him.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, kind of an anticipated move, but a very interesting one, nonetheless. We'll get to that in a second.
Let's check the market first, kind of dancing around a little bit. We're just down about six points here. You can see. Again, the price of oil, Heidi, holding the markets back. And you wonder what would happen if the price of oil did drop to $40, as the head of OPEC suggested would happen within six months. You could really see an incredible rally.
What stocks are moving? Well, it has to do with Howard Stern this morning. He is jumping ship and taking his act to Sirius Satellite Radio. That stock is up 56 cents, to $3.92, a 17 percent move. Boy, we all should have bought that stock yesterday. Viacom, where he used to work, or he worked, or he still will work there until the next year, is down 55 cents. Howard talked to his listeners this morning about the move.
Let's hear what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD STERN: I hope the audience stays with me, and I want to thank my sponsors, too, who've enabled me...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you to all the people who kept convincing (ph), stay on, you know, keep fighting.
STERN: Especially my sponsors who stood fast while the Religious Right continues to attack us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERWER: Well, that's part of the while thing. And of course he won't have to worry about any sponsors on Sirius Satellite Radio, Heidi, because that is a pay-per-listen satellite network. It's got 600,000 subscribers. They say they're going to need a million to pay -- a million more to pay for his contract.
COLLINS: Maybe they get to the Playboy Club folks, too.
SERWER: Yes, that's right, they could do that.
Just one last thing I want to say about Sirius, which is interesting, is that, you know, this could be one of those transformational events. You remember when CNN and the Gulf War, and that really sort of took them to the next level. When Fox got football, that sort of put them on the map. So we'll have to see. And it's competition is XM Radio, and they've got some new people, too, like Bob Edwards; they just signed the other day, and "Opie and Anthony," which is an interesting store.
This is kind of PG-13-rated segment, or maybe an R-rated thing. And the Playboy Club is back, I want to just quickly mention that. They closed down in '86, and opening up a new one in Las Vegas after an 18-year hiatus, and that's good news for certain segments of the population, wouldn't you think?
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Yes, some people will like that, Heidi; some people won't.
COLLINS: That's right.
SERWER: There you go.
COLLINS: All right, Andy, thanks so much for that. Back now to Bill in Cleveland once again this morning -- Bill.
HEMMER: Yes, Heidi, how about a final word from the voters, huh? The focus group we sat down with last night in realtime now, their reaction to the debate. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER (voice over): Twelve men, 12 women, 24 mostly undecided voters, watching the debate from the campus of Ohio State University. They were armed with hand-held touch pads to register their reactions, 1 being the lowest negative score, 10 the highest positive. Men in blue, women in yellow.
The candidates came out sparring, both getting higher positives from women throughout the debate. When Edwards attacked the Bush administration's record on jobs, he scored big with our voters.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: During the time that the vice president and the president have been in office, four million more Americans have fallen into poverty.
HEMMER: When Vice President Cheney turned to gay marriage, his daughter being gay, he also raised the bar.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whether or not government should sanction or approve or give some sort of authorization, if you will, to these relationships.
HEMMER: Senator Edwards lost points when he tried to accuse the vice president of drawing a link between Saddam Hussein and September 11.
J. EDWARDS: The vice president keeps suggesting that there is. There is not.
HEMMER: When Mr. Cheney got personal, his rating took a dip as well.
D. CHENEY: Almost 70 percent of the meetings of the Intelligence Committee. You've missed a lot of key votes.
HEMMER: And when it was over, just like any good focus group, some liked what they heard, some did not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They talked a lot about the war, but I would have liked to hear more about how and when we're pulling the troops out and not how we got there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard far more definitive answers than I heard from the previous debate between our presidential candidates. I still heard too much he said/she said/you said accusations, but there were some definitive answers to specific questions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: And now the focus goes back to the top of the ticket. Friday night in St. Louis, they'll line up again. Our primetime coverage at 7:00 Eastern. That debates begins at 9:00. We'll see you again there on Friday night.
Break here. Back in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: For Andy Serwer and me here in New York in the studio of AMERICAN MORNING, thanks so much for watching. That's it for us.
Bill, back to you now.
HEMMER: You got it. OK, Heidi, Andy, we'll see you soon in New York, OK?
SERWER: All right.
HEMMER: To Daryn Kagan now at the CNN Center. The next hour is "CNN LIVE TODAY."
And, Daryn, take it way.
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